Giap. 14] ACCOUNT OF COUNTEIES, ETC. 425 



bia. (13.) After this, at the point where the Sirbonian 

 Lake^ becomes visible, Idumoea and Pala^stina begin. This 

 lake, which some writers have made to be 150 miles in circum- 

 ference, Herodotus has placed at the foot of Mount Casius ; 

 it is now an inconsiderable fen. The towns are Rhinocolura', 

 and, in the interior, Rhaphea^, Gt&za, and, still more inland, 

 Anthedon*: there is also Mount Argaris^. Proceeding along 

 the coast we come to the region of Samaria ; Ascalo®, a free 

 town, Azotus^, the two JamnisB*, one of them in the in- 



* Now called the Sabakat BardowaL It lav on the coast of Egypt, 

 east of Mount Casius, and it is not improbable that the boundary-line 

 between Egypt and Palsestina or Idumeea ran through the middle of its 

 waters. It was strongly impregnated with asphaltus. A connection 

 formerly existed between it and the Mediterranean, but this being stopped 

 up, it gradually grew smaller by evaporation and is now nearly dr}'. 



2 The present Kulat-el-Arich or El Arish, situate at the mouth of the 

 brook El- Arish, called by the Scriptures the " river of Egypt." Its name 

 signifies in Q-reek, " cutting off of noses," and is probably derived from 

 the fact of its having been the place of exile for criminals who had been 

 so mutilated, under the -Ethiopian kings of Egypt. Poinsinet suggests 

 however that the name means the " town of the circumcised." 



3 The place on its site is still called Refah, but it was really situate on 

 the coast. Gaza has been already mentioned in a Note to C. 12, p. 423. 



* Anthedon was on the coast of Palestine, although Pliny says to the 

 contrary. It was situate about tlu*ee miles to the south-west of Gaza, 

 and was destroyed by Alexander Jannseus. In the time of Julian it was 

 addicted to the worship of Astarte, the Syrian Yenus. According to 

 Dupinet the present name of its site is Daron. 



* Brotier says that this is the same as the Mount Gerizim of Scrip- 

 ture, but that was situate in Samaria, a considerable distance from the 

 southern coast of Palsestina. Pliny is the only author that mentions it. 



^ The Ascalon of Scripture, one of the five cities of the Philistines, 

 situate on the coast of the Mediterranean, between Gtiza and Jamnia. 

 In early times it was the seat of the worship of Derceto, a fish with a 

 woman's head. The rmns, which still bear the name of Askulan, are very 

 extensive, and indicative of great strength. The shalot or scaUion was 

 originally a native of this place, and thence derived its name. 



7 The Ashdod of Scripture. It was one of the five cities of the Phi- 

 listines and the chief seat of the worship of Dagon. Herodotus states 

 that it stood a siege of twenty-nine years from Psammetichus, king of 

 Egypt. It was afterwards taken and retaken several times. It was 

 situate between Ascalon and Jamnia, and its site is indicated by the 

 modem village of Esdad, but no ruins of the ancient city are visible. 



* One of these was a city of the Plulistines, assigned to the tribe of 

 Judah in the fifteenth Chapter of Joshua, 45, according to the Septua- 

 gint version, but omitted in the Hebrew, which only mentions it in 



